Climate change lands at the airport
THE WORLD’S AIRPORTS WERE LARGELY DESIGNED FOR AN OLDER ERA — A COOLER ONE
sea levels could rise as much as 6 or 7 feet this century, and aviation experts say that even a much smaller rise could lead to more flooding at runways or terminals.
Preliminary studies indicate that dozens of airports are at risk. A 2009 report by Eurocontrol, a Brussels-based agency that coordinates air traffic management across Europe, estimated that more than 30 major European airports sat on coastlines or within river floodplains.
Sea level rise and storm surges have a “somewhat-nearer-term flavour” for airports than other as American Airlines did in June when daytime highs in Phoenix climbed to about 120 degrees.
Longer runways
Hot temperatures cause air density to decrease, reducing lift and forcing airlines to either reduce weight on flights or move departures to cooler hours of the day. Experts say that will most likely pose a long-term economic challenge for airports, especially those in humid climates, at high altitudes or with short runways.
The cost of having a short runway in a hot place became clear to planners at Brisbane Airport in Australia, who studied climate models and airlines’ financial data in 2009 while designing the airport’s second runway, said Karyn Rains, the project’s former environment manager.
They discovered that because of an expected spike in the number of annual 86-plus-degree days in Brisbane, airlines would be forced to spend more than $79 million per year by 2035 if the second runway were 8,202 feet, rather than 10,826 feet. Rains said that was mostly because larger planes would be unable to land at an 8,202-foot runway under certain hot weather conditions, and would need to burn extra fuel while waiting to land at the privately owned airport’s original, 11,811-foot runway.
Lighter loads
A study this year in the journal Climatic Change, based on modelling for 19 major airports, found that 10 to 30 per cent of annual flights departing at the hottest time of the day could require weight restrictions by the middle or end of this century.